Man Queried In Killings Of Prostitutes

Published: April 4, 2007

Investigators have been questioning a Salem County man and searching his home in connection with the killings of four prostitutes whose bodies were found near Atlantic City in November, according to an official who has been briefed on the case and the man's sister.

The sister, Mary Oleson, 45, said that her brother was questioned by police officers in a hotel in Pennsville, N.J., on Monday and again on Tuesday. The Atlantic County prosecutor, Jeffrey S. Blitz, would not comment on the questioning, and he said that no one had been taken into custody. The police withheld the man's identity because he has not been charged with anything.

On Nov. 20, the bodies of the women were discovered in Egg Harbor Township near the border of Atlantic City. They were identified as Kim Raffo, 35, a mother of two and occasional waitress; Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, of Philadelphia, a dancer with two children; Barbara V. Breidor, 42, who at one time ran her mother's jewelry business; and Molly Jean Dilts, 20, a mother from rural Pennsylvania.

Autopsies determined that Ms. Raffo died of ligature strangulation and Ms. Roberts of asphyxiation. The bodies of Ms. Breidor and Ms. Dilts were too decomposed for the cause of death to be determined. All four were dumped barefoot with their heads facing east in a trash-strewn ditch behind the Golden Key Motel.

Sonny Patel, the Golden Key's owner, said the man being questioned had stayed in Room 127 from the beginning of October through the end of December. ''Sometimes he would help me with work and we would give him a break on the room,'' Mr. Patel said, adding that the police had interviewed him on Monday about the man, who had never given him any trouble.

State Police K-9 units and detectives searched the man's house in this township about 56 miles from Atlantic City on Monday evening and Tuesday morning, an official briefed on the case said. Investigators also searched a shed behind the house that sat next to two automobiles on cinderblocks. In the front yard, a birdfeeder wired with a surveillance camera was hanging from a tree.

There was no response to knocks at the door later Tuesday.

Tammy Goss, 33, the man's cousin and neighbor, said he was very secretive and was estranged from his father and most of his siblings, most of whom live in the area. He inherited the house, in which he grew up, when his mother died a few years ago, Ms. Goss said.

Other neighbors said the man was mechanically inclined and neighborly, often plowing their driveways and helping fix cars at no charge.

''I've never seen a bad side of him,'' one neighbor said.

Records show that the man, who owned a lawnmower repair business and also did construction work, had a history of financial problems.

The investigation into the killings has begun to heat up. An official with knowledge of the case said that several ''persons of interest'' have had their DNA tested, as will the Salem County man.

Photo: Detectives searched a house yesterday in Alloway Township, N.J., in connection with the bodies of four women found in a ditch near Atlantic City in November. (Photo by Britney Lillya/Today's Sunbeam, via Associated Press)